


Leaps and Bounds

by Shergar



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alec does Parkour, Alternate Universe - Dance, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Dancer Magnus Bane, F/M, First Meetings, Izzy is a good sister, Jace shows off, M/M, Magnus Bane Saves the Day, Parkour
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29470977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shergar/pseuds/Shergar
Summary: Magnus is late for his Tuesday rehearsal because of a situation on the train. Catarina's going to kill him but at least he gets a date!(Parkour/Dance AU)
Relationships: Clary Fray/Jace Wayland, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Simon Lewis/Isabelle Lightwood
Comments: 10
Kudos: 47





	Leaps and Bounds

**Author's Note:**

> This started off as a short thing based on a video of Storror racing the Tube a few years ago. It just spiraled after that.
> 
> Also, I do not parkour so I apologize for any inaccuracies. I did dance but that was a long time ago and a very different style of dance.

It was Tuesday which meant of course,  _ of course,  _ the train was running late because Tuesdays were one of the days that Magnus actually had somewhere to be. Sure, that place was dance rehearsal, and since he choreographed the whole thing it couldn’t exactly start without him but being late irked him. It didn’t matter how early he left, the train was always going to be late - it was just one of those things that were certain in the world - death, taxes, and the inability of the Tuesday train to be on time.

He saw the light over the platform change to indicate the train was on his way and he sighed in relief. A quick look at his watch told him that, barring any disasters, by the time he got to the studio, he’d be just ten minutes late. Surely Catarina couldn’t kill him for a measly ten minutes. The train came to a stop and Magnus slipped into a seat by the window, slipping his headphones in his ears and queuing up the songs they’d be dancing to. He might be late, but he could still run through the routine in his head.

He watched as three bodies slid in right before the doors closed and took up a position by the door. They looked to be about his age - two men and one woman all dressed in black workout clothes sporting a logo that Magnus couldn’t quite make out on their t-shirts. The blond had a Go-Pro in his hand and the three appeared to be talking to the camera. He rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the window. Kids these days and their social media crazes. (Though...could he talk? He’d been known to do the odd TikTok dance or two.)

The doors dinged open at the next stop and the two boys rushed out, running like the hounds of hell were after them, leaving the young woman on the train. She stared after them for a moment before gathering up the bags they’d left haphazardly on the floor of the train. A few more people got on before the doors closed and they began to move. He was prepared not to give the odd little group any more thought before movement out the window caught his eye. The dark-haired boy was on the street now, scaling a street light and using it to hop onto the roof above. The blond followed with his camera now between his teeth. A few seconds later they had disappeared completely from view. 

_ What? _

He glanced back towards the woman they’d left on the train and noticed that she seemed entirely unconcerned as she smirked into her phone. What was even happening? Is this one of those ‘If you see something, say something’ situations? Should he report this? What would he even say to security? He paused his music and pocketed his headphones as the train entered a tunnel. He was too engrossed in whatever  _ this _ was now to even remotely focus on his routine. 

Another minute passed and the train began to slow. This stop was underground but Magnus glanced out the window across from him anyway, hoping to catch a glimpse of the two men before turning his attention back to the girl in front of him. She winked at his baffled expression and shrugged. “They’re racing the train,” she said simply as if that explained the entire situation before looking back down at the phone in her hand. 

_ Racing the train? _

His stop was next but he was way too invested now to just let this go so he shot off a quick text to Catarina letting her know that there was a situation with the train and he might be later than normal so she should get started without him. She’d probably kill him when she found out why he’d made himself late to his own rehearsal (and he could definitely hear her voice in his head chiding him) but he didn’t care. He needed to see how this story ended. 

He couldn’t even feign surprise when his phone rang ten seconds later. “My dearest Catarina, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“A situation, Magnus?  _ You _ are usually the situation. Does this situation have a pretty face?    
I swear, if you ditch us again because you’ve fallen head over heels in love with someone again only to get let down days later, I will never let you hear the end of it. Ragnor and I  _ won’t _ come to your apartment with your favorite ice cream this time. We will leave you to wallow in the misery of your own design.”

“Please, you must have me mistaken for someone else,” He replied, keeping his eyes on the window outside. He knew exactly what situation Catarina was referring too but he wasn’t going to give her the pleasure of reminding him. “This situation has everything to do with the train, thank you very much, and we’re going through a tunnel so I’m about to lose you. Get rehearsal started without me and I’ll be there as soon as I can!” He disconnected the call before she had a chance to reply. 

The girl before him was eying him with a smirk. “Theater?” He wasn’t sure how much of the conversation she’d heard but it was apparently enough to get him noticed. Or in trouble. He wasn’t entirely sure yet. Knowing how things typically worked out for him it was more than likely both.,

“Dance, actually. My studio - I just let them know I was going to be a little bit late. It’s not every day you see someone race the train. Of course, I need to see how this story ends.”

She laughed and held out her hand. “Well, hopefully, they’re successful so you’re not missing practice for a failure of a YouTube video. I’m Isabelle - the two idiots racing the train are my brothers - Jace and Alec.”

“Magnus. Do I want to know what brought on the sudden urge to run across the city like a bat out of hell?”

“My boyfriend found a viral video from a few years ago of some guys doing it in London. He bet them that they couldn’t do it better and neither of them were willing to back down from a challenge, especially when Simon issued it - so here we are. If they managed to keep up, they’ll be re-joining us at the next stop.”

Magnus hummed and turned his attention back outside. Why was he nervous?  _ He  _ wasn’t the one racing the train for a YouTube video. He had no connection to these people outside of his brief conversation with Izzy.  _ Why did he care as much as he did? _ He rubbed his palms on his pants and took a deep breath as the doors opened. 

For a few painstaking moments, nothing happened. No one got in their car and no one left. Izzy glanced out the open door and back down at her watch. “I don’t know if I should be holding the doors and keeping my fingers crossed or if we just consider this challenge failed.”

They were getting close to departure, Magnus knew, and there was still no trace of the boys. He got up and took a few steps closer to the door when he saw the dark-haired one jump off the top of the staircase and slide down a light post. The blond took a different route, jumping from the railing of the stairs down to the top of a phonebooth and then hitting the ground with a roll. 

The doors dinged and Magnus threw his hand out to stop them before they could close and buying the boys a few extra seconds. They both toppled in, the dark-haired boy crashing into Magnus and pulling them both to the floor. The blond took the Go-Pro out of his mouth and put a hand on his chest, making no move to get up from where he lay panting on the floor of the train. “We made it.”

“Just barely,” Izzy responded playfully, throwing both their bags towards them. “And only because Magnus here held the door for you. I was going to let the doors close and then you could have explained to Simon how you aren’t as good as some random guys from YouTube.” 

“Alright Izzy, enough.” The boy who had fallen on top of Magnus pushed himself up and offered him a hand up. “Thank you for holding the door even if my sister was planning on letting us be left behind. I’m not sure I could have lived with the embarrassment of Simon being right. He talks a lot and we never would have heard the end of it.” 

“Any time, pretty boy,” he responded, a blush rising on the other man’s face. “I look forward to seeing the video.” They reached the next stop and Magnus stepped out onto the platform. “Now that my excitement is done for the day, I’ve got to get to practice. I hope I’ll see you around sometime.” He was still a ways away from his studio but he’d just get a cab. At this point, the mostly solitary ride would do him good.

\---------------------------

He didn’t think much about the boy on the train for the next week. They had a competition coming up - something that would hopefully get them noticed by the type of people who hired dancers for stage shows and music videos and that had entirely taken over his every waking thought. There was something  _ missing _ from their routine and he hadn’t yet put his finger on just what.

“Magnus, you’ve got a visitor. It better not be your  _ situation _ from the train the other day.” Catarina called, popping her head back into the studio from the entrance. “Not that she isn’t gorgeous, but come on. Is your type outside of the she-witch reserved exclusively to pale skin, dark hair, and pretty eyes?”

“In fact, it’s his sister,” he replied as he let himself into the front room. “Isabelle, what do I owe the pleasure? I’m surprised you’ve found your way to our little corner of New York.”

“Here,” she said, thrusting a business card in his hand. “Since he’s got the backbone of a chocolate eclair when it comes to this sort of thing, this is Alec’s number. You should call him.”

“And Alec was…”

“ _ Pretty Boy,” _ she replied with a smirk. “He’s interested too, Magnus. He’s just...shy. Have you seen the video they made yet?” He shook his head, he’d been meaning to look for it, he just hadn’t had the time with their competition coming up. “You should watch it. The channel link is on the back of the card.” She didn’t give him a chance to respond before she left just as quickly as she came. 

That evening, after everyone had gone home and Magnus was safely back in his loft and alone, he pulled out the card Isabelle had given him earlier.  _ Shadowhunters - Parkour, Videos, Adrenaline. _ He clicked onto their profile and was shocked to find they had over a million followers - apparently, there was more of a market for this parkour thing than he’s originally imagined. 

The video from the train had been one of the most recent ones they’d published. There were a few minutes of introduction where they thanked people for views on their last video and gave some insight on upcoming projects. Apparently, Isabelle usually went with them but had chosen to stay back with their stuff for this run. 

“So, anyway, Simon found this video from like six years ago of a few guys racing the Tube in London and thought that there was no possible way that we could pull that off here. We thought we’d do one better though, I think those guys went three or four stops? Something that that, we’re going to go six.”

“We mapped out a route,” Alec cut in, rolling his eyes at Jace. “We walked it once more this morning, we know where we’re going and now we just have to hope we can do it before the doors close. We’re going to get on, go to the next stop, and start from there. Izzy will stay behind and stay with our bags so it’s just the two of us this time but I’m sure plenty of you will still be fine with that. Jace is on the Go-Pro today so if some of the shots are shit, you know who to blame.” Jace, in response, smacked him on the shoulder but Alec appeared to be unbothered. 

They worked out a few more details and some banter back in forth before they boarded the train and started to drop their bags on the floor. “Hopefully the train remains a little slow today. It typically is on Tuesday mornings, I’ve noticed. Some of the jumps we’ll be making are tricky. An extra few seconds goes a long way.” Alec continued, shooting one last playful look at the camera before the doors opened and the two boys took off. 

This was what he hadn’t seen from the train. Alec was first, scaling the street light and pulling himself onto the staircase above. From there, they left the station and took a left through a mixed-used development that had been revamped a few years ago. There were a few cafes at street level and some office buildings above them. Alec weaved between businessmen as he ran and Jace took the showier route of hopping over a few small tables.

They crossed the street and used another streetlight to haul themselves up onto a low-hanging roof. Magnus knew that these were small stand-alone offices - an art gallery, an accountant, a travel agency if he remembered correctly, and he was trying to imagine what the people inside were thinking as they leapt across the rooftops. The office rooftops lead to a parking garage where they decided to forgo the stairs and jumped from railing to railing until they reached the bottom. While they had reached the lower floor of the parking deck, they hadn’t hit street level. They climbed once more over a railing and dropped thirty feet to the ground below, landing with a grunt and a roll. 

They continued to run across the street and Jace took the camera he was holding in his teeth out to point towards a coffee place that was now behind them. “That’s the coffee shop where I met Clary - that means we’re about halfway there!” They took another left and ran through another shopping center, this time slowing down enough to run in the front door and out the back door of a market. This shopping center was always busy, Magnus recalled, watching as they weaved their way between shoppers and hopping over a concrete barrier. 

They’d finally reached the station and quickly hopped over the turnstiles and down the staircase. Alec chose to slide down the lamp post while Jace dropped onto a phone booth and lowered himself to the ground. They both dove onto the train seconds before the door closed and Alec fell on top of Magnus as he tried to get out of the way.

Jace handed the camera up to Isabelle so that she could film from above as they both lay panting on the floor of the train. “We made it,” Jace said between breaths. 

“Just barely and only because Magnus here held the door for you. I was going to let the doors close and then you could have explained to Simon how you aren’t as good as some random guys from YouTube.” He watched as Alec pushed himself up and offered a hand to help Magnus to his feet. 

“Alright Izzy, enough.” Magnus watched as Alec thanked him and he took his own departure before the siblings continued their conversation.

“He called you  _ pretty boy _ ,” Izzy said with a smirk, throwing an extra water bottle in his direction. “You should call him.”

“Can it, Iz. I barely have his name.” Alec was growing redder by the second and Magnus was sure it wasn’t from the workout he’d just had. 

“His name is Magnus. He’s a dancer. He has a studio. Surely that’s enough for you to go off of. How many Magnus’ who own a dance studio can there be in New York City?”

The footage ended there and cut to the three of them on a rooftop, the New York Skyline behind them. The sun was beginning to set so they must have waited a few hours to film this. They did their outro, asking people to like and subscribe and if anyone had another challenge for them to try to send it their way. They apologized for anyone’s commute that they disturbed that morning and Magnus assumed the video would end there. 

“And thank you, once again, to Magnus,” Alec started, a smile on his face. “For holding the door even if my sister would have left us. This would not have been a success without you. Until next time, everyone.” The screen went black and their social media info scrolled across as Magnus sat in shock. They’d remembered him  _ and _ they’d shouted him out. Maybe he should take a chance. He picked up the card Izzy had given him and turned it over, dialing Alec’s number before he could convince himself otherwise. 

“Hello?” The voice on the other end of the line asked and Magnus felt a shiver run down his spine. Absolutely no going back now.

“Alexander, it’s Magnus. From the train - I hope you don’t mind me calling, I got a visit from your sister and she gave me your number.” As well as a kick in the right direction, but Alec didn’t need to know that. 

“Magnus? Oh hey, uh... What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you’d like to get a drink sometime? Maybe when neither of us are under a time crunch with rehearsals or, you know, trying to beat a literal train in a race.”

“I’d...I’d like that, yeah. We’ve got some filming to do tomorrow morning but I’m free after - unless you want to come and watch us film in which case I’m available all day. But uh, don’t feel obligated.”

“No racing anything tomorrow?” Magnus asked with a chuckle. “I’m fairly certain I couldn’t keep up.”

“Nope - regular rooftop stunts. It’ll be Jace, Izzy and I again. I think Simon and Clary might come to watch. Aline said she’d see how she was feeling in the morning - she twisted her ankle a little bit ago so she’s still recovering.”

“Well as long as you don’t expect me to jump off any rooftops, consider it a date. I may be coordinated but I don’t want to put just  _ how _ coordinated to the test.” All injuries needed to wait until after their competition at the very least. 

“Great! I’ll see you tomorrow then - I’ll text you an address and a time. I’ll see you tomorrow, Magnus.”

The call disconnected and Magnus stared at his phone until the promised messages came through. He had a date with his  _ situation  _ from the train who turned out to be some sort of parkour badass who he was meeting tomorrow afternoon to watch him jump across rooftops. Oh yes, Catarina was certainly never going to let him hear the end of this.


End file.
